, 1887-07-22
WHERE CUSTER FELL.
A VISIT TO THE FIELD WITH GALL,
WHO LED THE INDIANS.

The Indian camp was on the left side OF the
Little Horn river, extending up and down
the stream, in a lovely, fertile bottom,
covered with rich heritage and luxuriant
grasses, and occupying an area fully three
miles in length by half a mile in width.
When one considers the size of this camp,
close packed with lodges, tepees and wicki-
ups, he can form some idea of the population
it contained. 1t must be remembered, too,
that every redskin in u tribe-bucks, squaws,
boys, maidens, and all except the papooses-
does his or her level best at fighting when at
tackled by an enemy. So it was with Sitting
Bulls village in the Little Horn valley.
When the brave cavalry leader swept down
on the Indians with his usual dash and eclat,
he was not checked by bullets or arrows; no
want of courage caused him to pause and
falter, but simply mass of numbers got in his
way, beat him back step by step, notwith-
standing the leaden hail poured into the saw
ages from the cavalry carbines, and finally
overpowered and killed every white man
after the ammunition of the latter had been
exhausted. Clusters men fought all they
could, fired shot after shot with telling effect,
but all to no purpose.
Indians who were In that fight have told
me some strange stories. Sitting Bull was
not in the fight at all. Gall was the big chief
and generalissimo of the day, and while he
was leading the bucks and directing the en-
gagement, old Tonka-te-Tonda Sitting Bulb
was back in his medicine lodge making medi-
cine. As the Indians won and Sitting Bull
made the medicine he, of course, got all the
credit for the victory. One of the Indians
says that the shells got stuck in the white
mans carbines, and when those weapons were
thus rendered useless as fire arms the poor
fellows, pressed to the wall and overpowered
ten to one, dubbed their guns and fought
desperately, with death staring them i'm the
face, until the last doomed man fell In his
tracks. When the ammunition was exhausted
the Indians walked up, knocked them down
with clubs and butchered them with hatchets.
Gall told me that the main object of his
young men was to stampede the horses, which
carried the saddle pockets in which each
soldier had stored his ammunition. The
troopers had, perhaps, fifty rounds apiece on
their persons, but the main supply was in the
saddle bags, being entirely too heavy to carry
on the body. In all, the soldiers were sup
piled with about two hundred rounds per man
for the fight. When the cavalrymen were
dismounted to fight on foot one soldier
was detailed to hold every eight horses.
Gall says he quickly saw the advantage to he
gained could the horses, laden with ammuni-
ton be stampeded, SO he devised a plan to
that end. He sent a score or two of young
bucks up n ravine to the rear, and these EN-
bryo warriors, unmindful of flying lead and
the danger of the job, suddenly rose up with
yells and shouts just in front of the horses,
swung their blankets wildly in the air, and
every steed in the outfit broke loose from the
holders and scampered down the ravine to,
wards the Little Horn, where they were
gathered in by the squaws and old men
on the wait for just what had occurred.
Many of the Indians were armed with cav
airy carbines and United States muskets, so
| this yarV ammunition was tIrnad against
Custer and his men, and no doubt had much
to do with deciding the fortunes of the day.
From all that can be gathered by question
ing Curley, the Crow scout, and the only
living survivor who marched with Custer,
and also from the narrative of Gall, who has
since visited the spot and told the story of the
day on the ground where he made it, it ap-
pears that there were between 5000 and 1000
Indians in the village at the time Custer de-
scended upon it, and that the attack was not
so much of a surprise to the red men as has
generally been supposed. Gall says that he
saw the soldiers early in the morning crossing
the divide, and noted carefully that the white
men divided themselves into three divisions.
When Clusters omman swept off to the
right they lost sight of that force temporarily,
keeping their eyes on Reno, who came directly
down to the river, seeking n ford to cross over
and fight. Reno did cross over, paused a
lilllb ~ . anu JlblltI XII III ItlllOuIltt
all his men, and rode up alongside some ash
timber a mile and a half, when he suddenly
came in sight of the village. When the
soldiers saw all these Indians the bugles
sounded charge" the soldiers came rushing
like the wind upon their women and children
and killed many of them, but the braves rallied
in great force. turned on the troopers and
chased them back to the river, into which
everybody tumbled and scrambled up to the
TON NJ N zfaan LIN gnyNA9fNn NNlan Nhnyv Inl
Reno on the hill the bucks, in great numbers,
tried to drive him off; but not succeeding,
the women, old men and some bucks were left
to guard them while the others recrossed the
stream and hurried down to the other end of
the village, where the cry had been raised
that more soldiers were coming. OF course,
this was Clusters outfit, and we have no tale
of that terrible affair except what the Indians
tell us.
From all that can be gathered, it seems
that Custer must have come down as far as
the river with his troopers, although Gall says
he never got within half a mile of the stream;
but the footprints of the cavalry horses led
in a broad and well defined trail clear down
to the river, Notwithstanding Calls state
ment to the contrary. Gall went with me,
placed his foot on a certain spot, fully one
half a mile from the river, and said fatty and
positively that the white soldiers got no
hchitl n ilNeI hnan lnhJ point, anu were
then first met by his braves and fought back
step by step to the ridge, where all finally
persisted. When asked how these footprints
cnme on the bank, the chief explained that
they were made by white soldiers on horse
back, who had attempted to escape from the
Geld by going down q ravine and then cross
ing the river. These were met by some bucks
on the other side, who turned them up stream
again, and, after racing parallel to the vii
lage for nearly three-quarters OF a mile, were
finally crowded into the water, and they re.
crossed the river once more. They came out
just where all the cavalry tracks appeared,
and after running half a mile further, were
finally caught and knocked on the head with
stone clubs.
This chief, who was undoubtedly the leader
of the red forces ON that day, further says
that only forty-three Indians were killed in
all, although a great many afterward "fell
over and died. This phrase, l think. refers
to the wounded who died of their injuries.
This seems n very small percentage Of casual.
ties among the red men, when it is con.
sidered that 204 white bodies were found on
the field, although more than 240 men yielded
up their lives on Clusters field. not counting
the killed and wounded of Reno's and Ben,